Best Accountant for IT contractors

[Suzi101010]

Dear All,
In your opinion and vast experience who would recommend as the best accountants for IT contractors. I have heard lots of confusing information.

[Kyias]

I'm with you on this one, I have been looking for a few days now and all I seem to find are lots of marketing landing pages offering 90% this and that. I'm looking for something more tangible like an office or company to go and talk to.

[Forgotmylogin]

Dear All,
In your opinion and vast experience who would recommend as the best accountants for IT contractors. I have heard lots of confusing information.

That would be because there is no "best". There are some bad accountants, yes, but no "best".

It partly comes down to how much you're willing to do yourself, whether you want someone local who you can sit down with to review accounts, whether you prefer someone online where you fire and forget, and a great many other differences.
There's also the question of risk - I interviewed some accountants who flat out advised me to follow some practices I knew were dodgy. They didn't get my business.

[BrilloPad]

I'm with you on this one, I have been looking for a few days now and all I seem to find are lots of marketing landing pages offering 90% this and that. I'm looking for something more tangible like an office or company to go and talk to.

Then you are not looking at accountants. You are looking for schemes.

Get a limited and get an accountant. Unless you are looking at short term then use an umbrella.

I am about to switch to qdos accountancy.

[TheFaQQer]

I use and recommend InTouch.

But it can be an individual preference - I chose InTouch because I spoke to Clare and she gave me quicker answers than I got from Nixon Williams. SJD just never did it for me, and I couldn't get Crunch's portal to do what I wanted it to (which wasn't that complicated).

However, I know people that recommend each of those, though - just bear in mind that NW and SJD are the same company now, which may or may not impact your opinion.

If you do go to InTouch, discuss things with Louisa and tell her that I sent you her way

[unixman]

I would recommend Intouch, although I have only been with them a month or so. Nixon Williams are also well spoken of. Crunch and inniAccounts have also been recommended in these forums. All of the these companies use their own bespoke web platform, a "portal" where you enter your figures regularly, and from which you can produce reports.

Others, such as Gorilla Accounting, use a well known platform called Freeagent, rather than bespoke. Some contractors like this because they know Freeagent and how to use it. And a few accountants use an Excel spreadsheet which you keep up to date and send to them at regular intervals, eg. SJD.

All accountants will remind you when taxes are due and remind you when to pay them. And most will include doing your personal tax return as part of the service (remember your tax affairs and those of your company are largely separate things).

[northernladuk]

Others, such as Gorilla Accounting, use a well known platform called Freeagent, rather than bespoke. Some contractors like this because they know Freeagent and how to use it. And a few accountants use an Excel spreadsheet which you keep up to date and send to them at regular intervals, eg. SJD.

I'm with Gorilla Accounting as well and would recommend them. Tell Jamie I sent you.

[TestMangler]

I'm with a small firm rather than one of the 'specialist' contractor accountants and have been for 21 years and typically pay half of what the 'specialists' charge.

There is no correct answer to your question.

[Dan@OrangeGenie]

Dear All,
In your opinion and vast experience who would recommend as the best accountants for IT contractors. I have heard lots of confusing information.

Rather than finding an accountant people recommend, find an accountant that suits you.

Base your decision on your knowledge of running a Limited company and how much support you need. Some accountants hand hold every step of the way, others leave you to get on with it.

[northernladuk]

I'm with a small firm rather than one of the 'specialist' contractor accountants and have been for 21 years and typically pay half of what the 'specialists' charge.

There is no correct answer to your question.

Is that because they haven't updated their price list from old money yet?